1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an indexing assembly associated with a conveyor system of the type designed to concurrently deliver and position baking pans with a delivery conveyor for dough or like objects to the extent that the dough is delivered, in proper sequence and position to receiving molds within the individual pans on a continuous, automatic basis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the commercial production of baking goods, it is common practice and quite well known to utilize a conveyor system to coordinate and automatically accomplish the positioning of dough products, for example, in the proper position within baking pans and/or pans used as the packaging for sale to consumers. In synchronizing the delivery of the dough product to the pans and more specifically, to specific receiving molds within such pans, it is common practice to use what may be broadly referred to as an indexing assembly. Typically, such indexing assembly generally regulates the position of the successive pans relative to a conveyor structure which delivers the dough products thereto taking into consideration the speed of the conveyor on which the pans travel as verses the speed of the conveyor on which the dough products travel. Typically, prior art indexing systems of the type referred to include a rotatably mounted shaft having a plurality of spaced apart fingers each defining a pan stop. Typically, the prior art includes such stops being disposed in an outwardly extending relation to the rotating shaft on which they are mounted to the extent that all of the fingers defining such pan stops extend outwardly from the shaft in a common direction and are disposed in parallel relation to one another. Based on this prior art structure, the pans being indexed are in fact only "in index" when the aforementioned commonly oriented pan stops are in a down or interruptive position. When such prior art pan stops rotate out of such interruptive position, the pans proceed to the next indexed position based on the speed of the pan feed conveyor. The pans are attempted to be kept in index or in synchronization with the delivery of the dough products based solely on the speed of the pan feed conveyor. However, if the feed conveyor is going too fast, the pans will overtravel the next index position and there will be one row of vacant receiving molds in the receiving pan.
Therefore, due to the extensive utilization of separate feed conveyors, there is a need in this area to provide an indexing assembly which is simple in nature but yet more efficient than the indexing assemblies or structures presently being used and as described above with regard to the prior art. More specifically, the pans being delivered should be controlled by a preferred indexing assembly to the extent that the plurality of pans being fed along the pan feed conveyor are effectively never out of index.